Slurp
by Jenova2008
Summary: Lucca and Frog are on edge after a particularly bad day and end up having some interesting conversation. One-Shot, hints of LuccaxFrog. Rated T for mild language.


_Author's Note: I do not own Chrono Trigger.  
>I've only just started playing this game, and I love it. I know, I'm so "hip" and "with it" to be 18 years late to the fandom but what're ya gonna do? Anyway, I've been reading a lot of other fanworks that pair Lucca with either Magus or Frog, and they usually go the "odd couple" route, with lots of bickering, for the LuccaxMagus stories. But I think she and Frog might be even more of an "odd couple" (not even counting his frog curse).So this is a silly little drabble filled with fluff I wrote one night on a whim. Oh, and I did research Elizabethan English for Frog's dialect to make it sound correct but I am no linguistics scholar, so if you see an error in his speech feel free to point it out in reviews. Thanks!<em>

It was the end of a particularly grueling day as Chrono and the crew bedded down for the night in a prehistoric forest clearing. Laruba had just burned down that morning, and they had had a bear of a time getting to the Dactyl nest. They decided unanimously to seek out the Dactyls first thing tomorrow morning, after reaching the base of the mountain where the creatures resided.

Chrono slept with his head resting on Marle's lap, snoring. The Princess fought a losing battle to stay awake and eventually curled up opposite Chrono, the two of them like a zen symbol amidst the leaves. Lavos could probably rise out of the ground right in front of those two and fail to wake them, had he existed here. Robo had powered down for the evening, peacefully silent. And Ayla went wandering, saying something about needing to smash something to make her feel better.

It had been a very bad day.

Lucca muttered and cursed over one of her guns by firelight. A leather-bound toolkit lay spread open next to her, filled with an assortment of tiny-headed screwdrivers and delicate wrenches. The gun had jammed up and given her so many problems today, and she had had no time to stop and fix it during the daylight hours. The jungle humidity had certainly been no help. Now she was forced to peer over it in weak light. Her eyes hurt, her head hurt, but damn it! She was going to get this stupid thing fixed! Lucca never left a job undone if she could help it!

Frog sat next to her, back to a tree, sharpening his sword with a stone. Well, he wasn't so much sharpening it as he was numbly going through the motion of sharpening it. He wore a weary, grim expression, but seemed to be showing no signs of falling asleep yet.

_Ribbit._

Lucca sighed, pausing for a split second. Normally, she never even heard it. And even when she did, it never had bothered her before. In fact, most of the time it was discreet and almost endearing.

_Ribbit._

But tonight, Lucca had reached her last nerve. She sighed, more forcefully this time, and in Frog's direction. The soft, intermittent croaking sounds Frog made felt like someone rapping a stick against her temple.

_Ribbit._

"Will you knock that off?" she finally cried.

Frog snapped to attention, and blinked at her through a scowl. "Pray pardon me?"

"That-that-that sound! That croaking sound, stop it!"

Offended, Frog's back stiffened. "I cannot help it!"

"Always the croaking," said Lucca, as she delved more forcefully into her gun's guts, continuing to mutter furiously to herself under her breath about stubborn circuitry.

Thoroughly insulted, Frog sheathed his sword and crossed his arms, color rising into his green face. Normally, on any other night, Frog wouldn't have gotten so angry. He would have taken the high road and not been baited by the girl. But tonight was no ordinary night. After some moments of silence, Frog waited until Lucca had become engrossed in her work.

**Ribbit.**

Lucca threw her head up and tossed her tool to the ground. "You did that on purpose!"

"Mayhap thou hast forgotten that I am a frog." There was a smugness to his voice, although he kept a pretty good poker face.

"Shouldn't you be asleep already?" She hissed. "I swear, what is it with you and getting up before the crack of dawn?" She mocked his voice, "'Prithee, we shouldest stop at the inn, 'tis already 5pm! I needest to be up to see the bats turneth in for the night!'"

"I have ne'er uttered such a ridiculous thing! And thou _shouldst _not fritter the good hours of the day away sleeping."

"Well, excuse me for being a night owl! I happen to do all my best thinking at night!" She growled in aggravation. "Ugh, what is _wrong_ with this thing?"

"Methinks thinking is eluding thee tonight. Get thee to bed," he said tersely.

"Yeah, you'd like that, wouldn't you? You'd like me to just give up and go to sleep so that I can wake up with you at the ass-crack of dawn to prance through the magical, dew-covered daisies in the meadows and say goodnight to the goddamn bats!" To preempt Frog asking any questions she added, "Because they're _nocturnal,_ that's why!" with a jab of her finger at him.

Frog opened his mouth to respond, but couldn't think of anything in this world that could be a proper response to that.

Lucca removed her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose, exhaling slowly. "I don't even know what I'm talking about. Look, I'm sorry about the croaking thing. I've just got this headache and it's been a horrible day. And this piece of crap refuses to work."

"Apology accepted. And yea, 'twas an odious day."

She cleaned the lenses of her glasses off on her shirt, but didn't put them back on right away. She breathed deeply, squeezing her eyes shut. "I just have to take a little break. I'll rest my eyes and look at it again in a few minutes. It's like a puzzle you're trying to solve; sometimes, staring straight at it is the worst thing you can do."

"That's the spirit," said Frog. His voice sounded lower than usual. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the tree.

"Why don't you go to bed, though?" Lucca asked, more kindly than she had before. "At least I'm a night owl. I'm used to pulling all-nighters."

"Nay, my mind is restless." One eyed opened to look at her as he warned, "'Pulling an all-nighter' be not wise."

"No, no, I won't." She replaced her glasses and picked up her tools with renewed vigor. "See? This will be it, I'll figure this puppy out and we'll both be sawing logs in no time!"

Sawing logs? Frog furrowed his green brow at her words. Sometimes this girl made no sense to him whatsoever.

Unfortunately, she twisted her screwdriver with a bit too much gusto this time and its sharp point sliced a gash down her finger.

"Ow! God damn it!"

Frog's face fell in concern. "Art thou injured?" He moved closer to her to look at the wound.

"Ugh, stupid, stupid," Lucca said, inhaling through gritted teeth. "It's my own fault. I should have worn gloves. Oh, man, do you have a rag or something?" The cut was deeper than she thought; small red pearls of blood started to gather and fall down her hand. What a mess.

Frog did not answer her. He grasped her cut hand and turned it about, looking at it from all angles, assessing its condition. Lucca was about to say something when he unceremoniously stuck her bloody finger directly into his mouth.

Lucca's eyes widened and all she could do was gape at him, gob smacked. He studiously avoided her gaze. She felt his soft tongue run up the cut and then warmth slowly spread out from it as his magic activated. Her pain diminished until she could no longer feel the cut at all.

He released her hand and she let it drop limply into her lap. Lucca blinked, and then glanced down at her finger. The cut was gone. Not even a mark.

Frog moved back away from her, back to his tree, still avoiding looking directly at her.

Lucca wiped off the bit of remaining blood and moisture on her leggings. "Wow. I don't think I'll ever get used to that." She glanced aside at him sheepishly. "Wasn't that a little…gross?"

"Aye, I know thou art not fond of me, or this form of mine. Thy disgust is understandable." He tried to sound matter-of-fact, but Lucca could definitely detect a note of shame in his voice.

"No! No, no _no_, it isn't _that_. I think it's pretty cool, actually! Although, weird." She rubbed her chin. "Pretty weird. But still really useful! Thanks!" She rambled nervously. "But, um, you drank my blood. That's gross."

Frog scoffed. "Nay, 'tis nothing."

"Blood carries diseases. You probably shouldn't make a habit of that."

If Frog had eyebrows, he would have raised them at Lucca. "Art thou diseased?"

She put her hands on her hips. "Tsk. Of course I'm not _diseased_!"

"Then, 'twas nothing."

"Well, all right then, I'm just saying."

"As you will."

Lucca yawned and began tinkering again. Frog listened to her work with his eyes closed, concentrating on the little clicks and movements she made. He could sense her eyes on him every few minutes or so.

Finally, at length, she said, "I like you."

Frog didn't answer, and kept his eyes closed, his breath catching in his chest. Talk like this always made him uncomfortable. Maybe she would think he fell asleep and cease her confessions?

"You said I didn't like you." Nope, she wasn't ceasing. "Where'd you even get that idea, anyway?"

Frog cleared his throat, forced to reply. "Upon our very first meeting."

"Oh! Right." Lucca furrowed her brow in thought, and then waved her hand in the air dismissively. "But I didn't really mean that! Not in that way, anyway."

"Thy meaning wast perfectly clear, as I recall. 'I hate frogs', quoth Lucca."

"Forget what I said. It was idiotic. So stop thinking I don't like you, okay?"

"Very well," said Frog.

"Granted, you're pretty uptight and kind of a pain sometimes, but I like you a lot! Oh, don't look at me like that. I say that, but I realize that I'm a gigantic pain in the ass myself, you know?" She flashed him a cheeky grin.

Frog smiled. "That thou art."

"Hey! You're not supposed to agree with me so quickly. You're supposed to be like, 'No, Lucca, you're the easiest person to be around, ever! You brighten my day with your beauty and genius!'" She was still smiling.

"Thou art an incorrigible braggart," Frog said, good-naturedly.

"Hey, when it's the truth, it's the truth. Besides, you're one to talk, Mr. Chosen-One-To-Wield-The-Masamune: Legendary Hero!" She held up her hands, waggling her fingers in a dazzling motion.

"Nay, I shall not speak of myself in such a way."

"Well, maybe you should. A little self-promotion never hurt anyone."

"Thou art more skilled in the art of arrogance than I."

"Hey, if you've got it, and you say you've got it, you're just being honest." She started to put her tools away. "Maybe I'll start introducing you when we visit towns. Here's Frog, Ultimate Master of the Legendary Masamune! Ooh, I can make a confetti gun to fire into crowds! 'Clear the way, folks, the Legend has arrived!'"

"Pray, do _not_!" he replied, embarrassed. "I only wield the blade because it alloweth me to."

"Oh, all right, spoilsport. So serious." Lucca laughed. "Ah, I feel great! I think that…thing you did got rid of my headache, too. Still tired, though…"

"I am glad."

Lucca wrapped up her tools in her pouch and hid them under a small bush along with her weapon. She sidled closer to Frog, removing her jacket and rolling it into a ball. "Hey, listen. I'm going to go to sleep now. Do you think you could do me a favor?"

He nodded.

"I want to resume working on that tomorrow." She thumbed toward her gun and tools. "Can you get me up when you do? That should be nice and early and I'll be able to get this fixed before we head out for the day."

Frog seemed hesitant with this request. "Thou art _most_ unpleasant upon waking."

"I promise I won't be! Please?"

"Hath thou also sayeth these words to Chrono, last week, when he doth suffer a vicious strike unprovok'd?" Frog's eyes widened as he remembered the morning Chrono got a little too close to Lucca when trying to rouse her from sleep, receiving a kick to the balls for his trouble.

"Oh. My _god_! I'm never going to live that down, am I?" She shook her head. "It was Chrono's own fault! He got right on top of me like a moron, thinking he was going to be all funny! I was half-asleep and thought I was being attacked, what the heck else was I supposed to do?"

"Thy reflexes are formidable. Hast thou e'er considered taking up the sword?" A smile danced at the corners of his mouth.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure 'groin-kicking-in-a-flailing-panic' isn't a skill that can be honed into anything useful. Come on, Frog, please? I promise I won't kick you in the jewels." She added in her head, _I'm not even completely sure where those might be on you._ Thankfully, her "foot in mouth" filter had been working then.

"Dost thou give thy word?"

"Yes? Please please please please please," she begged, clasping her hands together.

"Very well," he groaned. "I shall hold thee to thy word!"

"Thanks, Frog! Goodnight!" She jammed her balled-up jacket under her head and lay down.

Lucca must have been exhausted, because within minutes Frog heard her breathing steady in slumber. He closed his eyes and drifted off himself, still sitting up.

After a while, the fire began to die down and a chill wind blew through the forest floor. Lucca curled into a fetal position and shivered. Frog awoke from a half-sleeping state, with his face in the underbrush, to the sound of her teeth chattering. He unfastened his cloak and spread it over the sleeping girl before settling down once more.


End file.
